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Even the Chinese premier doesn't trust his country's GDP figures. Li Keqiang reportedly told a US ambassador this in 2007. He described Chinese GDP figures as 'man-made' and unreliable. Wikileaks then made the diplomatic report public a few years later. This anecdote has been much reported this week due to the latest gloomy economic figures from China. Its economy officially grew by 6.9% in 2015, its slowest rate in 25 years.

So what can a jittery world trust? Keqiang was reported to focus on three data samples to compensate for an unreliable GDP: electricity consumption, rail cargo volume and bank lending. Global Cement Magazine suggests that he should have followed one more: cement. What can cement tell us about the Chinese economy in recent years?

Chinese cement production fell by 4.9% to 2.35Bt/yr in 2015 according to newly published figures by the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC). This is significant. Firstly, whether it is a true reflection of actual production or not, it is an admission by a Chinese state body that cement production is declining. Secondly, it signals the end of the rapid growth of the country's heavy industries through the 1990s and 2000s.

Figure 1 – Chinese cement production by quarter, 2014 – 2015

Figure 1 shows Chinese cement production by quarter in 2014 and 2015 using NBSC data. Two years are insufficient to pick out any major trends other than seasonal trends throughout each year. However, remove the slow winter months in the first quarter of each year and a steady decrease in production throughout 2014 and 2015 is apparent.

Figure 2 – Chinese cement production by year, 2005 – 2015

Figure 2 offers the context that Figure 1 lacked by comparing cement production from 2005 to 2015. Notable trends to point out are a slow down in growth in 2008, around the time of the global financial crash. Then production peaked in 2014 before falling in 2015. This data comes from the United States Geological Survey and then latterly the NBSC.

Figure 3 – Chinese cement production by year and GDP/capita, 2005 – 2015

Figure 3 shows annual growth in cement production against growth in GDP. The similarity of each line here, or the rate of growth, and where they diverge is what is interesting here. Up until the late 2000s the trend is similar until GDP/capita starts to grow faster than cement production. At this point either the Chinese economy has started to acknowledge that it can build all the infrastructure and housing it needs or perhaps the slowing growth in cement production has started to point to slowing GDP/capita growth.

2015 could be a blip if growth resumes in 2016. Yet the other heavy industry metrics suggest otherwise. Electric power and steel production also fell for the first time in 2015. Coal production dropped for the second year in a row. The Chinese housing market started to slow noticeably in 2014, cement production followed by slowing down and now the country's GDP growth has also slowed. Alongside this the industry's capacity reduction programme officially started in late 2013. Cement consumption per capita for China has long suggested that Chinese growth was due to slow. It is reassuring to finally see the official production figures reflect this. The real question though is what happens next.

Thailand: Vorathep Rangchaikul will resign from the position of CEO at Siam City Cement . The resignation takes effect from 7 April 2016.

Vietnam: Vietnamese farmers in many localities have used cement as fertiliser for their rice fields after a farmer in Lai Vung, Dong Thap said that the move had helped him raise his yield.

Several months ago, when building a new house, Le Van Nuoi from Long Hau noticed that vegetables planted near a place where building workers washed their utensils grew well without any fertiliser. Nuoi thought that the vegetables developed thanks to the mortar and cement stuck on the utensils of building workers.

Nuoi made a test with rice. He put down urea mixed with cement on a small area of rice and discovered that the trees in this area grew better than others in the same field. Nuoi's initiative was transferred to other farmers in the region, who have reached the same conclusion as Nuoi. The farmers have offered instructions on how long the fertiliser should be used and the ratio of cement and urea.

Mai Quoc Hau, Head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Division of Lai Vung, said that the local authorities have known about the initiative of local farmers. The division has sent experts to work with the farmers. He said that he would report the case to the higher authorities for consideration because using cement as fertiliser was 'very strange.' Experts have warned that spraying cement to rice fields will make the land unsuitable for crop cultivation.

Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan's Ahangarancement JSC increased its cement production by 4.1% to 1.77Mt in 2015. Its clinker production grew by 3.4% to 1.28Mt. In 2015 the company sold 1.77Mt of cement, a 3% year-on-year increase.

India: Sagar Cements is in advanced talks to buy Jaypee Group's Andhra Cements. JSW Cement is another potential contender. The enterprise value of the deal is expected to be around US$162 – 169m, a steep discount of about 30% in comparison with recent cement deals.

Andhra Cements has two plants in Andhra Pradesh with a combined capacity of 2.6Mt/yr. It also has a 25MW captive power plant under construction. It had a debt of US$118m at the end of its 2015 fiscal year. If the deal transpires at US$162m, it will translate into an enterprise value of US$64/t of cement capacity. This is lower than the average valuations of US$100/t of the recent deals in the sector.

"We would like to clarify that, though the company does hold discussions internally now and then in an informal way on expanding its operations through organic and inorganic routes, no particular entity has yet been identified for a possible acquisition," said an Andhra Cements spokesperson.

For Sagar Cements, the deal presents several long-term synergies. The acquisition will enhance its current capacity of 3.8Mt/yr by 2.6Mt/yr. Secondly, Sagar Cements will add the capacity at a time when the creation of two new states, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, is expected to generate an incremental cement demand of 30Mt in the region in the next five years.

US: Registration for the 58th annual IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Technical Conference is now open. The Conference takes place on 15 - 19 May 2016 at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas.

The conference features technical presentations, tutorials, state of the industry updates and professional development training sessions, as well as several networking opportunities and a student outreach programme. This year's conference will also feature a new series of training modules called 'Process Training,' which is focused on the cement production process.

Brazil: Intercement's Cimpor, part of the Camargo Corrêa group, has announced that its US$145m project to build a plant in Itaiacoca, Parana, is suspended. The decision was made due to the ongoing economic crisis in Brazil. The Ponta Grossa plant had been announced in 2011 and was set to have an initial production capacity of 1.2Mt/yr of cement and create 1000 jobs. The company has not disclosed any details about a new timetable for the project, but has confirmed that it is still in plans for expansion in the coming years.

New Zealand: Plans for the future use of Holcim's Westport cement plant after it closes are still unknown. Holcim plans to close its Westport plant in 2016 in favour of importing cement from Japan, resulting in 105 staff and contractors losing their jobs.

The company announced in September 2015 that the Westport plant might close at the end of May 2016 and plans were under way for the plant to be demolished and the quarry site rehabilitated. Holcim owned more than 500 hectares of land around Westport, including the Cape Foulwind cement plant and quarry, 11 houses at Cape Foulwind and a rail siding near Westport.

General Manager Ross Pickworth said that no decisions had been made on the future of the company's land and assets in Westport. "The focus is on looking after our people and the work that needs to be done before plant closure. Preparatory and planning work is being carried out with a focus mainly on the plant site, quarry and houses," said Pickworth.

The company was investigating what work was needed on the 11 houses occupied by staff near Westport so that they could be sold after the plant closed. The Buller District Council was looking for new businesses to occupy the plant site and make use of the town's port. The council owned the port and transporting Holcim's cement was its main source of income. Council Business Development Facilitator, John Hill, had been investigating turning the plant into an eco-park, which could include making energy from rubbish incineration or turning waste timber into diesel.

Pickworth said that demolition work was unlikely to commence until late 2016, so any potential users had, "Quite some time to register interest in the site and any equipment that may be of use."

The council had been trying to attract new industries to Buller to increase employment opportunities in the region. "Holcim is supporting this process by promoting its Cape Foulwind site to see if there is interest from other potential users of the site," said Pickworth. "An advisor has been appointed to assist Holcim with demolition planning and project management. The cost of demolition will depend on what buildings and assets may be left on site and tenders will be called for such work closer to the time."

China: China National Building Materials (CNBM) said that it expects a 310 - 360% surge in net profit for 2015 compared with its 2014 net profit of US$22.5m, according to Dow Jones. CNBM said that the rise was due to it having 'cleaned up' asset losses. The exchange rate change between the US Dollar and the Chinese Yuan also contributed to its profit rise.

Mexico: Cemex has contributed to the restoration of the Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo highway, the main export-import route between Mexico and Texas, US. With 52% of Mexico's imports and exports moving along this highway, it is one of the main trade routes across the Mexican and US border.

With more than 15,000/day of trucks using the highway, its repair required extremely resistant and durable construction materials that guarantee road safety. To this end, Cemex supplied 98,000m3 of hydraulic concrete to restore a 15.6km stretch of the highway.

Cemex solved the challenge of paving the road without stopping traffic by utilising different work shifts to minimise the potential effect on this crowded highway and, simultaneously, guarantee correct placement of the hydraulic concrete. The project, which required 30,000t of cement, directly employed more than 100 people.